2016 – Page 67 – Spaceflight Now

Chinese research craft launched on two-week mission

April 5, 2016 Stephen Clark

The unpiloted Shijian 10 spacecraft launched from a spaceport in northwestern China on Tuesday with a suite of microgravity research experiments developed by Chinese, European and Japanese scientists.

Opportunity rover snaps photo of Martian dust devil

April 3, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover has captured a dust devil spinning across the barren floor of Endeavour Crater, an impact basin the robot has explored since 2011 in the mission’s long-lived second act.

Blue Origin launches same New Shepard spacecraft for third time

April 3, 2016 William Harwood

Blue Origin launched its reusable New Shepard suborbital spacecraft on its third test flight Saturday, successfully boosting an unpiloted capsule out of the discernible atmosphere for a few minutes of weightlessness before a parachute descent to the company’s West Texas launch site.

Progress supply ship docks with the International Space Station

April 2, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Russian refueling and resupply freighter docked with the International Space Station on Saturday after a two-day pursuit with maneuvering propellants, food and provisions for the research lab’s crew.

Mars rover re-routed after spinning wheels on steep hillside

April 1, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA’s intrepid Opportunity rover, in its 13th year driving across the deserted landscapes of Mars, tried to climb a 32-degree incline a few weeks ago to reach a piece of terrain scientists think formed billions of years ago in the presence of water.

SpaceX hopes to sell used Falcon 9 boosters for as low as $40 million

March 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

SpaceX intends to cut the price of a Falcon 9 rocket launch by up to 30 percent when flying with reused first stage boosters, an achievement the company still hopes to demonstrate before the end of the year, SpaceX’s president said recently.

Photos: Progress supply launch viewed from space station

March 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

Astronauts living on the International Space Station captured amazing views of a Soyuz rocket streaking into orbit from Kazakhstan with nearly 3 tons of supplies destined for the massive research complex.

Two GPS navigation birds retired after two decades in space

March 31, 2016 Justin Ray

A pair of long-lived Global Positioning System satellites launched two decades ago recently went to graveyard orbits and were turned off, their missions at an end.

United Launch Alliance narrowing lists of suspects in rocket anomaly

March 31, 2016 Justin Ray

The detective work into the Atlas 5 rocket’s first stage performance trouble during the Cygnus cargo ship launch a week ago has implicated the fuel system as the likely culprit for using up the liquid oxygen supply too quickly.

Russian space station resupply mission lifts off

March 31, 2016 Stephen Clark

A Soyuz rocket launched Thursday with a Progress cargo freighter carrying more than 5,300 pounds of fuel, water, and supplies for the International Space Station’s six-person crew.